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KG’s Weekly Newsletter · Aug 7, 2026

KG's Weekly Newsletter

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Kurt Guelsdorf · KG’s Weekly Newsletter

Happy Friday Coaches!! Finally getting a little down time before school starts! Big golf trip coming up and a 40-year HS reunion last weekend!. It’s been a fun week after a great summer of hoops!

This week’s shout out goes to one of my favorite basketball reads, WHY THE BEST ARE THE BEST by Kevin Eastman. Summer is a great time to reread some favorite books and this easy read by Coach Eastman describes 25 powerful words that impact, inspire, and define champions.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

-Kevin Eastman

This week’s basketball share includes a thought on starting your transition offense, looking ahead to your defense in 2026-27, and ideas for your SLOB’s and BLOB’s next season.

Let’s Go!!

  1. I’ve covered transition offense in this space many times in various forms. Drills, SSG’s, spacing templates, etc. A piece of transition offense to consider is how you want to inbound the ball. Will you do it by committee, closest man rule, OR designate a player? NO WRONG answer here. My preference has always been to have a designated person take the ball out. In my opinion the benefits are:

    • No “hubby-wife" indecision. All 5 players know their role.

    • Once the player/players are trained they become great in their role.

    • We call this player our TRIGGER man, or O5 in the Walberg System. In HS we used the term “H” back from football.

    I’ve found this RULE to be more beneficial to our transition game and ensures we will fill the lanes the going the other way. Some coaches prefer the closest man rule. Again, no right or wrong here, just some food for thought as you plan for next season

  2. Defensively I’ve played most every style in the half court with FULL COURT PRESS DEFENSE being the constant.

    • Constant trapping in the 1/2 Court - “FIRE”

    • Pack Line - Gaps: straight man, switching defense

    • No Middle - rotations from the baseline, NO MIDDLE DRIVES

    • Denial - On the line up the line: Force offense to beat you off the drive and push the offense toward 1/2 court.

    • Situational trapping ATO: Trap the first pass, trap the dribble

    • Zone 2-3, 1-3-1, 1-2-2 (Box-1, Triangle-2 junk defense vs scout)

    Each idea can be great if it fits your personnel, your coaching philosophy, and/or plays to the weaknesses of your league, state, or conference. This offseason and fall, take a look at what you’ve done, what you plan on doing, and see if it’s time for a new look and adjust, or is what you’ve done still a great fit. Sometimes it’s a CORE belief and it’s who you are defensively or you’re building something and need to keep some consistency. Again, no right or wrong answer. Jim Boeheim won with 2-3 zone, Coach K with half court man, Pitino with press. Find a formula that fits your group and teach the daylights out of it. Know the answers to every question. Players will follow YOUR LEAD!

  3. I love the SPECIAL SITUATIONS aspect of basketball. As you prepare for next season, how do you want to approach your DEAD BALL SITUATIONS on offense.

    • BLOB’s: Box Sets? How many? Same player positioning? 1-4 LOW? 1-4 HIGH? How many total? Man vs Zone? Do you have sets that work against both when you’re not sure the defense?

    • SLOB’s: Alignment? Safety entry? Entry to get into HALF COURT sets? Late clock or end of game?

    Here’s a BOX SET BLOB combo that works from the same alignment and a TRIPLE STACK SLOB alignment we used to run various sets/actions.

    _____________________________________________________________________

    Please hit the subscribe button for the NEWSLETTER and also on my

    YouTube for some Dribble Drive content, special situations, and tons of other stuff. I’m low on tech but hopefully high on content.

    GOOD LUCK COACHES!!

Read the original on kurtguelsdorf.substack.com ↗

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